SMU women’s swimming and diving won their fourth straight Conference USA Championship title Saturday, at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston.
The lady Mustangs stole the medal stand once again while also setting new records.
In the 100 free, senior Petra Klosova earned a title win in a NCAA provisional-qualifying and season-best time of 48.58. Touching second in the water was senior teammate Candace Blackman, while sophomore Sascha Van den Branden came in third.
The freshmen came up strong during the tournament and posted three, new record times. Therese Svendsen won her first title of the meet in the 200 back with a season-best time of 1:55.51.
Raminate Dvariskyte celebrated her first championship title in the 200 breast, setting a new NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 2:13.68.
The free team of Blackman, Van den Branden, Werth and Klosova continued their success in the 400 free relay with a NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:17.00.
In the diving events, sophomore Audra Egenolf placed second by a three-point differentiation with a score of 273.80.
The Mustangs came out on top in the C-USA tournament with a score of 857.5. The team has a chance to rest up before competing in the NCAA Zone Diving Meet on March 13 in Houston.
SMU men’s swimming and diving closed out the weekend winning their fourth Conference USA Championship Saturday in Houston, marking their 13th consecutive conference championship.
It was another record setting day for the SMU men’s swimming and diving team. SMU posted 10 career-fastest swims and claimed five meet record times.
Freshman, Mitchell Thomson came out early setting records in the 1650 free. Thomson swam a new pool record and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 15:14.47, although he claimed second. Swimming along side was senior teammate Chris Ginder, who swam a new season-best time for fourth place.
The Mustangs kept the momentum going as senior Pontus Renholm broke record time in the 200 back with a NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 1:43.50. In the same event, freshman James Shake placed third, while setting his own personal best time of 1:48.23.
In the 100 free, junior Thomas Fadnes smashed the conference record with a time of 43.42. Fadnes swam past teammate Luka Vrtovec’s record in the free, while Vrtovec placed third. Also swimming in the free was freshman Robin Andreasson. Andreasson claimed the consolation title with a season-best time of 44.63.
With three records broken early in the night, the Mustangs still weren’t through. The 400 free relay team of Andreasson, Vrtovec, Walter Rumans, and Fadnes swam a time of 2:54.97, placing them at first and claiming another conference meet record.
Junior Ed Downes won his second conference title in the 200 fly, breaking a new record time by touching the wall at 1:44.95. Freshman Blaz Korosec finished the night off with a silver in the fly and a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:46.36.
The diving team finished the night off strong with a win by sophomore Matthew Culbertson. Culbertson scored a 313.30, while freshman Richard Cornelius finished fourth.
